HARLINGEN — The Brownsville Rivera Raiders are heading to the postseason for the first time since the 2011 season. The Raiders fended off a late Harlingen rally to seal a 68-62 win Tuesday night.
Despite the loss, the Cardinals still qualified for the playoffs after Harlingen South lost to Los Fresnos, also on Tuesday. The Cards will go in as the No. 4 seed.
“It’s exciting for the kids,” said Harlingen coach Greg Yates. “Considering we didn’t make the playoffs last year and seeing the kids fight through a tough district and win 27 games, this year is a tribute to their efforts. One of our goals was to make the playoffs and we reached that goal.”
Rivera will meet Edinburg Vela or Edinburg Economedes in the opening round of the playoffs while Harlingen has a date with District 31-6A champ Edinburg North next week.
“You want to make it into the tournament and we made it. Now we will see what will happen from here,” Yates said. “There is no doubt our district was tough, so we hope that competitiveness will aid us in the playoffs. We look to try and win every game, but we came in knowing Rivera is a tough team and Oscar (Lozoya) is a player and he showed it tonight. Rivera did a great job this year on making the playoffs.”
The Cards raced out to an early lead in the first quarter, but it was in the second quarter where the momentum shifted in favor of the Raiders. Lozoya dished eight of the 18 points scored in the quarter for the Raiders.
In the third period Rivera began to run away with the lead. A quick 5-0 run put the Raiders ahead 32-22 as they took control of the boards and outscored Harlingen 19-11.
Rivera extended its lead 52-39, but Harlingen used a big 29-point fourth quarter behind Riley Sauceda to cut the lead to 10. Sauceda came off the bench and scored 10 points in the fourth quarter.
“We’re not happy with the loss tonight, but we’re happy with making the playoffs and the kids get to experience the playoffs,” said Yates. “The last several games we have played have been intense. Riley is defensive minded and he has the speed and quickness. He made some big plays for us late in the game.”
Michael Arellano hit back-to-back 3s to trim the lead to 59-55 with 1:30 left, but that was as close as Harlingen got.
On the night, Harlingen missed 12 free throws and couldn’t capitalize down the stretch while Rivera hit late free throws to help seal the win.
In the loss, Arellano finished with 27 points while Sauceda netted 10 points.
